| Odin Sphere | |
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Each of Odin Sphere's protagonists are featured on the cover. Starting below "Odin" and going clockwise, they are the valkyrie Gwendolyn, Shadow Knight Oswald, orphaned princess Velvet (in the background in red), fairy princess Mercedes, Alice (front center fore), the rabbit-shaped cursed prince Cornelius and prince Ingway.
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| Developer(s) | Atlus Vanillaware |
| Publisher(s) | Atlus EU Square Enix |
| Released | JP May 17, 2007 NA May 22, 2007 EU Early 2008 |
| Genre | Action RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Ratings | ESRB: T |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
Odin Sphere (オーディンスフィア Ōdin Sufia?) is a 2D fantasy action RPG video game. Developed by Vanillaware and localized and published by Atlus for the PlayStation 2 in 2007, it tells the interlocking stories of five different protagonists. Odin Sphere is considered a spiritual successor to an Atlus game called Princess Crown. Official UK Playstation 2 Magazine incorrectly reported it will be released in Europe in September 2007. Square Enix will release the game in Europe early 2008.
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Plot
Odin Sphere has five stories. The protagonist of each story is connected to the royalty of each of five warring nations in the world of Erion. Each of these protagonists wields a Psypher, a weapon with a large crystal capable of absorbing Phozons, energy sparks released when something (such as an enemy) dies. These five stories overlap and interconnect making it possible for the protagonist of one story to be the antagonist of another.
Setting
Ragnanival, the realm of the Demon Lord Odin, is embroiled in a war with the forested realm of Ringford, home of Queen Elfaria and her fairy subjects. Odin seeks the Crystallization Cauldron, which the fairies possess, in order to create Psypher crystals. The battleground for this war is a sandy wasteland located between the two countries, the remains of the once prosperous nation of Valentine. A mysterious disaster devastated the country; all that remains of Valentine are the Pookas, cursed humans in the shape of anthropomorphic rabbits, their currency, and the magically-endowed descendants of the late King Valentine. Cautiously neutral in this conflict between Ragnanival and Ringford are the city-state of Titania, under the rule of a doddering old king, and the volcanic nation of Volkenon, ruled by the Inferno King Onyx. Behind the scenes, a circle of deceitful wizards known as The Three Wise Men, scheme and plot while Queen Odette of Endelphia, patrols her netherworld home for intruders.
Characters and story
Odin Sphere is framed as a series of books being read by a little girl named Alice, as she goes through the library in her attic (accompanied by her cat, Socrates). Each book is the story of one of the five protagonists. The first protagonist is the Valkyrie princess Gwendolyn (voiced by Mia Bradly in English and Ayako Kawasumi in Japanese), the youngest daughter of the Demon Lord Odin. She and her elder sister Griselda lead their father's troops into battle against the fairies. When Griselda falls, Gwendolyn inherits her sister's Psypher spear. In a continuing bid for their father's love and approval, she plunges into battle once again as soon as the troops have regrouped. It is during this battle that she first encounters the Shadow Knight Oswald, who unexpectedly spares her life. After she defeats Belial, a dragon under the control of the sorcerer Beldor, Odin gains possession of the Crystallization Cauldron. However, it is inactivated before his very eyes by a witch named Velvet. Gwendolyn pursues her into the Forest of Elrit. Their battle is interrupted by none other than Odin, who reveals that Velvet is his illegitimate child with the now deceased Princess Ariel of Valentine. Velvet is taken back to Ragnanival to reactivate the Crystallization Cauldron. When she reveals that only the wearer of the ring Titrel can control it -- and that the ring was now within the belly of the dragon Wagner -- she is taken by Lord Brigan, one of Odin's generals, to the dragon's lair at the top of Horn Mountain. When Wagner is nowhere to be found, Lord Brigan decides to execute Velvet himself -- and to use this to discredit the Demon Lord. Gwendolyn then steps in to save her half-sister's life and help her escape. As punishment for her flagrant disobedience and for killing one of her father’s generals, Odin casts a spell on her that puts her to sleep, declaring that whoever awakens her will have her undying love and subservience. When Gwendolyn regains consciousness, she finds herself married to the Shadow Knight Oswald, who presents her with the ring Titrel. Though confused by Oswald's kindness and her growing feelings for him, her loyalty to Odin compels her to give him Titrel while Oswald is away. Her father then reveals how her marriage to the Shadow Knight came about. When Gwendolyn returns home to find Oswald still gone, she follows him to the Fire Kingdom. There she learns of Oswald's agreement with the Inferno King Onyx and rushes in to save her husband from the hatchling dragon Levanthan, whom the Shadow Knight is mysteriously unable to defeat. Gwendolyn brings the injured Oswald back to their home. As he is recuperating, a valkyrie informs her of her father's defeat at the hands of the fairies -- and that the ring Titrel was now with Mercedes, their new queen. Oswald is heartbroken when he learns his wife -- whom he was hoping would someday return his love -- gave the ring he presented her to Odin. Gwendolyn agrees to retrieve Titrel, though she is unsure whether she wants it back for her father or because it symbolizes Oswald's love for her. While she is away, a Halja takes a despondent Oswald back to the Netherworld to satisfy his debt to its queen, Odette. After Gwendolyn returns with Titrel, she follows Oswald to the Netherworld with the help of Odin. After Gwendolyn slays Odette and reclaims her husband, she defies her father's demand for Titrel, much to Oswald's amazement. Her story ends with the lovers pledging their undying love for one another. The following story is that of Prince Cornelius of Titania (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal in English and Daisuke Namikawa in Japanese). Cornelius is in love with the Princess Velvet of the ruined Kingdom of Valentine, whom his father King Edmund highly disapproves of. En route to a rendezvous with Velvet, Cornelius is ambushed, transformed into a Pooka, and banished to the Netherworld. There, he encounters a mysterious spirit who gives him a Psypher sword, which the spirit describes as his birthright. With the help of a damned soul, Cornelius gets past Odette and escapes the Netherworld. He returns to Titania to find “Prince Cornelius” telling the king that he was prepared to end his affair with Velvet. He follows the imposter and realizes that it is Velvet's capricious twin brother Ingway… and that it is he who turned him into a Pooka. Ingway assumes Velvet’s form and they battle. Though victorious, Cornelius runs away when Ingway sneers at him, daring him to show himself to Velvet in his current form. A dejected Cornelius returns to Titania where the sorcerer Urzur, one of his father’s advisers, counsels him to ask the wise dragon Hindel if he knows of a way to break the Pooka curse. Cornelius travels to the top of Horn Mountain only to find an enraged dragon Wagner bent on avenging his friend Hindel’s death. Cornelius defeats Wagner but spares its life. In return, it brings him to the Pooka Village. There, Cornelius learns that its cursed inhabitants are the former citizens of Valentine. When he asks if they know of a way to return to their human form, they reply that they hope to do so by collecting all the Valentinian coins. King Valentine, the grandfather of Princess Velvet and Prince Ingway, was said to have sealed his powerful magic in the coins. They also tell him of Velvet’s efforts to stop Odin from activating the Crystallization Cauldron and triggering Armageddon, including going to Ringford to steal the ring Titrel. Worried, he exits the Pooka Village to find Velvet running away from an incensed Mercedes intent on reclaiming Titrel. He blocks Mercedes’ path and knocks her unconscious in the resulting battle. Grateful, Velvet brings him back to the Pooka Village to recuperate. But just as Cornelius has recovered, goblins attack the Pooka Village, stealing all of the coins the Pookas have collected. He then follows the thieving goblins to the Fire Kingdom and encounters the damned soul who had escaped the Netherworld with him -- the long dead King Valentine. Using what magic he had left and the magic inside the coins the goblins had stolen, he creates a dragon egg that from which Levanthan hatches. After Cornelius defeats the surprisingly powerful hatchling, King Valentine slinks off with the unconscious Levanthan. Cornelius then takes the coins back to the Pooka Village where he learns that the Three Wise Men, one of whom was the sorcerer Urzur, had taken over Titania. Cornelius rushes home to find his father completely cowed. King Edmund then reveals the disgraceful past of the royal family of Titania, including the death of Cornelius’ grandfather, the mysterious spirit that had bequeathed him the Psypher sword. Cornelius rushes off to confront the devious Urzur who admits he had thought Cornelius would die at the hands of the vengeful Wagner. But before Cornelius could kill him, Urzur taunts him to choose between killing him and saving his beloved Velvet… who was under a sleep spell and laid out as a feast for Belial. When Ingway suddenly appears, a desperate Cornelius turns to Velvet’s twin, who unexpectedly offers to deal with Urzur. Cornelius defeats Belial, who had already grown weary and resentful of the Three Wise Men and the vile deeds they had him do. When Urzur appears to order Belial to kill Cornelius while he was preoccupied with untying Velvet, the dragon kills the sorcerer instead. Prince Cornelius’ story ends with Velvet pledging her undying love for him despite his current appearance. The third story is about Princess Mercedes of Ringford (voiced by Jennifer Sekiguchi in English and Mamiko Noto in Japanese). When her mother, Queen Elfaria, is killed in battle by the Demon Lord Odin, she inherits Riblam, a crossbow Psypher that fires magical bolts, as well as a nation she is ill-prepared to lead. She goes to the Forest of Elrit to seek the help of Beldor, the sorcerer who was one of the her mother's advisers. There, she meets a frog that claims to have once been human. In return for retrieving the Riblam, which Mercedes dropped in a deep pool when the frog surprised her, she agrees to grant him one wish. They find Beldor, only to find out he has already pledged his loyalty to her elder cousin Melvin, who has proclaimed himself the new king in her absence. After defeating the dragon Belial and sparing its life, Mercedes, together with the frog and the fairies still loyal to her, flies back to Ringford with to deal with the uprising. The momentary peace that follows is interrupted by the raging dragon Wagner who demands that Mercedes give up the Shadow Knight who slew his friend the dragon Hindel. He tells her that he will await the Shadow Knight in his lair -- and that if Oswald does not show, he will return to raze Ringford. Mercedes climbs to the top of Horn Mountain and declares -- to Wagner’s disbelief -- that she sent the Shadow Knight to the Netherworld. Wagner attacks her in anger, but acknowledges the truth of her words when she defeats him with her Riblam but spares his life. Mercedes then returns to Ringford to search for a way to defeat Odin, who has become an even bigger threat to the fairies now that he has the Crystallization Cauldron as well as the ring Titrel. When she learns that the deceitful Beldor was now in Titania, she offers to pardon him in exchange for his help. In Titania, she finds out that the Three Wise Men have taken over the city-state. When the double-crossing sorcerer once again orders Belial to attack her, the dragon refuses, recognizing the compassion the young queen once showed him. A battle between the young fairy queen and the sorcerer ensues. Just as he was about to be defeated, Beldor prepares to turn Mercedes into a frog… only to find himself turned into a Pooka by Mercedes’s pet frog. Overcome by gratitude, Mercedes finally grants the exhausted frog his wish – a kiss. The frog is transformed into Ingway, who reveals that it was Beldor’s cohort Urzur who turned him into a frog. After they part ways, Mercedes continues to search for a way to defeat Odin and his Psypher mace Balor. Only Brom, the dwarven blacksmith who forged both her Riblam and Oswald's Belderiver, is capable of making a Psypher weapon more powerful than the Balor, but he was a prisoner in the Netherworld. Melvin had sent him to the Netherworld while Brom was still alive. Mercedes coerces the cursed Beldor to take her to the Netherworld to rescue Brom. The devious sorcerer abandons her as soon as he is able, but Mercedes succeeds. She and Brom then travel to the Fire Kingdom to obtain fire strong enough to forge the Psyphers into weapons. She encounters the dragon hatchling Levanthan and manages to get past him. Her story ends with Odin's defeat and the destruction of his Balor. In exchange for his life, the Demon Lord hands over Titrel and vows to never venture near Ringford again. The Shadow Knight Oswald (voiced by Derek Stephen Prince in English and Susumu Chiba in Japanese), a human orphan taken in by the fairies as a child, is the protagonist of the fourth story. He wields the infamous Belderiver, a crystal-tipped Psypher sword, with an unrivaled skill known throughout all the kingdoms. Oswald lives to serve his adoptive father, the nephew of Queen Elfaria, and carries out all the duties assigned to him, including the slaying of the compassionate dragon Hindel. While on a reconnaissance mission into Nebulapolis, capital of Ragnanival, he first lays eyes on Gwendolyn, whom he notices is nothing like the Odin’s Witch he has heard tales of. While battling Odin’s troops for the Crystallization Cauldron, Oswald encounters a Halja, a messenger of death, who has come to claim him for Odette, the queen of the Netherworld. He successfully drives it away, but is shaken by its words. He returns to the castle and confronts Melvin, who blames him for the fairies’ defeat. Melvin confirms the Halja’s words; he has indeed traded Oswald’s soul for the immense power of the Belderiver. To placate the stunned Shadow Knight, Melvin tells Oswald that he need not fear because the Belderiver is powerful enough to drive even the Halja away. Still hoping that he was more than a weapon to his adoptive father, Oswald continues to serve him devotedly, even battling the rightful heir Mercedes to help Melvin usurp the throne. After Oswald is defeated, Melvin’s dying words crush his hopes. A Halja soon appears, and Oswald is too despondent to fight him off. In the Netherworld, Oswald hears a mysterious voice telling him to find the bird that is his destiny. Now determined to return to the Land of the Living, he battles Odette… only to find out that his Belderiver is ineffective against her, the source of its power. Resigned to his new role as Odette’s servant, he embarks on his first mission for her: to kill the Demon Lord Odin who has once again ventured into the Netherworld to steal Psyphers. In exchange for his life, the defeated Odin brings Oswald back with him to Ragnanival. However, the Demon Lord’s machinations are far from over. Since he is unable to defeat the dragon Wagner, he asks Oswald to do so and offers him an old castle in the Forest of Elrit and Gwendolyn’s Psypher spear in exchange. Oswald is uninterested… until Odin offers him his disobedient daughter Gwendolyn as well. Oswald agrees. He slays Wagner and gains the ring Titrel, but refuses to hand it over to Odin, claiming that it was not mentioned in their bargain. In his newly acquired castle, Oswald gazes at his sleeping wife, pondering on how to wake her. Gwendolyn’s Pooka maid Myris unintentionally blurts out that a kiss would wake her mistress, but begs Oswald not to do so as the spell would cause the Valkyrie princess to fall in love with him, a complete stranger. Oswald then reveals that though he would like his wife to love him, he doesn’t want her to do so because of a spell. Suddenly, Skuldi, one of the Three Wise Men, arrives and abducts her. Oswald chases them into Titania. After he slays the dragon Belial, Skuldi tells him that he and his cohorts have brought Gwendolyn to the Fire Kingdom, hoping to goad the Inferno King Onyx into war with Odin, who had also promised her hand in marriage to him… and reneged by giving her to Oswald. Furious that the Three Wise Men saw Gwendolyn as a mere tool, he kills Skuldi then charges into the Fire Kingdom to claim his wife. Relieved to find Gwendolyn still asleep, he engages Onyx in an epic battle for her hand. A defeated Onyx reveals that he too was in love with Gwendolyn… and the true nature of the spell Odin had cast on his daughter. Mollified, Oswald offers Onyx an agreement to ease the Inferno King’s heartache: he would fight for his life for the Inferno King once… as long as Onyx stayed away from his wife. Oswald’s story ends as he pledges his love and devotion for Gwendolyn before leaning down to kiss her awake. The fifth story is that of Princess Velvet (voiced by Michelle Ruff in English and Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese), one of the two survivors of the ruined Kingdom of Valentine who retained their human form (the other being her twin brother, Ingway). She wields the Graveryl, a chain with a Psypher crystal at each end. After the country was destroyed due to an incident with the Crystallization Cauldron (which is revealed to be a relic of their country) Velvet fled to the Forest of Elrit, where she claims to be a forest witch. She is later revealed to be the illegitimate daughter of Valentine's Princess Ariel and Odin, making her Gwendolyn's half-sister. For this, she despises Odin, believing that her mother was seduced by him. Velvet's goal in her story is to piece together the prophecies in order to prevent the Armageddon. She is in love with Cornelius despite her brother's protests.
Gameplay
Odin Sphere is divided into several chapters, in which the story of one of the five playable characters is progressed. Within each chapter, the player can get information relating to the upcoming mission and buy and sell goods prior to setting off to the next destination. There is an overarching chronological story that is split among the 5 characters, with their individual stories intersecting at places (for example, early on within Gwendolyn's progression, Gwendolyn will fight Velvet, an event duplicated in Velvet's story progression.) As a result, the player will learn the entire picture of the events within the story from each characters' point of view. Only one character story is available at the start, but as the player completes those stories, they will unlock the other characters. Within each destination is a series of levels connected in a bidirectional graph; these levels include regular combat levels, shop levels, and minor and major boss levels. Regular combat levels have a 1 to 5 star rating indicating their difficulty, allowing a player to opt to avoid a path if it's too difficult at their current ability level. The minor boss will be indicated by a blue "B" and the major boss, a red "B". Defeating the major boss will advance the story to the next chapter. Both combat levels and boss levels also have a fixed reward shown on the area map that can be obtained once with successful completion of the level. A shop level will have a salesman ready to sell and buy goods. In each regular combat or boss level, if the player has not yet completed that level, they will need to defeat all the foes in order to leave that level. The player will receive a fixed level reward for this, as well as additional rewards for outstanding performance, including using less time to complete the level, and taking minimal damage. Once this is completed, exits to other nodes on the area map will be open for travel. If a player revisits a completed level, they can directly travel to an exit, or wait to fight foes that appear. Levels are represented in 2D as large circle; the player can continue to run in one direction and will return to the starting point after some seconds of travel. A radar map, similar to the one in Defender, shows the position of the player, enemies, and objects on the level, while a smaller map shows the location of the exits from the level. Combat is similar to many 2D fighting games, though includes a "power bar" representing how many consecutive actions the player has performed without pausing. Should the power bar empty, the player must wait a few moments for the power bar to refill while the character stands vulnerable in an exhausted state; however, a player can refill the power bar faster by stopping actions for a short period of time while still retaining control of the character. There are three additional aspects to Odin Sphere's gameplay:
- Psypher Weapons and Phozons
- Each character has a weapon called a "psypher" made of crystals from the Netherworld, which can be used to absorb "phozons" from defeated foes and other sources. As the weapons absorb more Phozons they will increase in power, doing more damage and providing new magic for the player to use. Magic requires consumption of a certain number of Phozons, though does not detract from the Psypher level.
- Alchemy
- The player can combine two items within the inventory to generate a new item, following specific alchemy recipes learned through gameplay. Most of these items require a "Material" bottle which the alchemy result is stored into. Material bottles can be improved in level by alchemizing two of them together to get a material bottle valued at the multiplicative product of the two original bottles (for example, Material 2 alchemized with Material 3 will give a Material 6 bottle). Certain alchemy recipes require a Material bottle of a certain level. Material bottles release Phozons when made into an alchemy recipe, with higher material levels yielding higher amounts.
- Plants, Food and Cooking
- The player has the ability to plant seeds in the current level. Most plant seeds require a fixed number of Phozons to grow (automatically pulling them from defeated foes), and once ripe, they will provide fruit and other items that the player can pick up and use, after which the plant withers and disappears. Food, when eaten, provides experience towards increases in hit points. Food can also be combined through cooking at the "Pooka Village" cafe and restaurant to make better dishes with larger experience gain and additional hit point bonuses. In addition, there are eggs that can be dropped, hatched, and fed seeds to grow chickens that either can be used to gain more eggs, or can be killed to create meat.
Game features
- Fully voice-acted dialog with English and Japanese bilingual options for the North American release.
- Hand-drawn artwork and animations
- Cooking and alchemy system that can be used to create attack and recovery items
Reception
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Odin Sphere received a positive reception with an average critic score of 83% at Game Rankings. Play Magazine (the U.S. version) gave it a perfect score, praising its 2D graphics, detailed storyline, and unique combat system as the high points of the game. However the game has been criticized negatively concerning the occurrence of slowdown during various points in the game where there are many enemies or objects on screen at once.
